Financial News This Week

February 8, 2010

THIS WEEK'S TOP STORIES:
Health Care Double-Digit Increases in Store for 2010 >>	Small Business Fewer Owners Are Satisfied With Their Banks >>
Consumer Trends Americans More Committed to Saving >>	Financial Professionals Advisors Seeking More Education on Alternatives >>
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Sam Stovall, Standard & Poor's Chief Investment Strategist, on Whether the Market Will Quickly Rebound From Its Disappointing January Performance >>

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Health Care
Double-Digit Increases in Store for 2010
Costs for the most popular employer-sponsored medical plans are expected to jump an average of 10% this year, reflecting a similar pattern of increase reported in the past two years.

Preferred provider organizations (PPOs) increased the most (11.1%), followed by point of service (POS) plans (10.9%).
HMOs and high-deductible consumer-driven plans each increased by 10.3%. The average prescription drug arrangement went up 10.9%.
Supplemental Medicare (Medigap) plans project an increase of 5.8%, which is down from the 7.4% increase reported in 2009.

More on the latest National Health Care Trend survey is available on the Buck Consultants Web site.

Small Business
Fewer Owners Are Satisfied With Their Banks
Small-business owners' overall level of satisfaction with their banks decreased between 2007 and 2009, with the biggest decline noted among those who had described themselves as "extremely satisfied" in 2007.

Overall, more than half of small-business owners indicated they plan to stick with the status quo for now: More than half (54%) probably will not consider changing banks within the next two years.
Not surprisingly, though, those who are currently the least happy are more likely to consider jumping ship. Nearly two-thirds (65%) of those disappointed with their current banking relationship said they might switch banks.
Most dissatisfied small-business owners bank with either regional or national institutions: 38% are customers of a "Big Four" national bank, while 41% deal primarily with regional banks.

More information is available on the Aite Group Web site.

Consumer Trends
Americans More Committed to Saving
The recession may have one silver lining: It's making savers out of normally spend-crazy American consumers.

In a December 2009 survey, 27% of respondents said they had permanently cut back on spending, up from 14% in January 2009.
The percentage of respondents with a positive savings-to-debt ratio increased from 37% in July 2009 to 42% in December 2009. The positive savings-to-debt ratio among those who work with a financial planner jumped from 44% to 55% during that same time frame.
Nearly one-third of respondents indicated they are using their credits cards less than they were one year ago.

More results are available on the First Command Web site.

Financial Professionals
Advisors Seeking More Education on Alternatives
More than 90% of registered investment advisors (RIAs) and brokers who participated in a recent survey said they used alternative investments within client portfolios.

Despite this widespread usage, 86% of brokers said they would carve out time to learn more about alternative investments.
Approximately 80% of both RIAs and brokers mentioned diversification as the primary driver of their use of alternative investments.
Only a small portion of financial professionals -- 16% of brokers and 8% of RIAs -- said they had "little familiarity" with alternative investments.

More information is available on the Rydex/SGI Web site.

Quote of the Week
Sam Stovall, Standard & Poor's Chief Investment Strategist, on Whether the Market Will Quickly Rebound From Its Disappointing January Performance
"From a technical perspective, the stock market quickly tried to reverse to the upside after its recent drubbing, but we think it is still too early to tell if the worst of the pullback is over. From an intermediate-term standpoint, we do not think a major bull market top occurred in mid-January. Once the current pullback is over, we see new recovery highs for the major indices."

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Financial News This Week
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